Team Hell No were the guests on Miz TV to open WWE SmackDown this week. Photo by WWE’s Twitter
The July 10 edition of WWE SmackDown was the blue brand’s final chance to showcase itself before Extreme Rules on Sunday and it was a successful attempt in doing just that.
The pre-Extreme Rules edition of WWE SmackDown was a stellar show with plenty of impressive in-ring work and entertaining segments as well, especially including the SmackDown Tag Team Championship picture.
With the final pay-per-view before SummerSlam just days away, the blue brand is heading in a great direction to leave a huge impact on the summer. With that being said, let’s take a look at a few grades from the July 10 edition of WWE SmackDown.
5. Opening Segment
Everyone knows by now that the “most must-see WWE talk show in history” is none other than Miz TV. And last night’s version of Miz TV was one of the best the show has seen in a long time when the number one contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship joined the picture.
Team Hell No has a big opportunity at Extreme Rules on Sunday to capture tag team gold from The Bludgeon Brothers, but last night kicked off with Daniel Bryan and Kane as guests on Miz TV. And as expected, it was a memorable segment from start to finish. It started out with The Miz halfheartedly giving Team Hell No its due, but would soon turn into a goading attempt.
The A-Lister said Kane, a big fan of *NSYNC apparently, would eventually turn on Bryan like he always does. This all led to Bryan putting The Miz in his place verbally before Miz responded with verbal shots of his own, claiming Bryan knows he can’t hang with him in the ring anymore. Kane tried to be the peacekeeper, but after a couple jabs were directed towards him, he was setting up The Miz for a chokeslam.
However, Harper and Rowan made their way to the ring and chaos ensued. Immediately after they came out, SAnitY jumped Team Hell No from behind and attacked them. But The New Day came out and fended off the attack for a while, only to get taken out briefly as well while the destructive heel teams stood tall. Overall, this was an awesome opening segment of the night with great comedy, mic work, and overall chaos.
In probably the best opening segment of WWE SmackDown all year long so far, everything just clicked wonderfully and led to a massive main event at the same time.
Final Grade: A
Photo by WWE’s Twitter
4. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
A feud that had the WWE universe buzzing for months was AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura battling it out for the WWE Championship. But just when it appeared like it was over with at Money In The Bank, the WWE had other ideas last night.
It was announced that Styles and Nakamura, who both have separate title matches at Extreme Rules, would face off with each other last night on WWE SmackDown. It’s always a treat to see these two compete against each other no matter the circumstances, so it was a pleasant surprise to get to see it last night unexpectedly.
And as expected, the two put on another stellar match. That’s to be expected with these two at this point, but it really was well-done and it got a fair amount of time for a TV match as well. However, with Rusev and Aiden English on the outside, things began to break down towards the end of the match. English goaded Styles and The Phenomenal One responded by punching him in the face.
Rusev didn’t appreciate that and as Styles was lining up for a phenomenal forearm, he threw him off the apron and caused a disqualification. But as Styles was getting attacked after the match, Jeff Hardy came out and helped him fend off Rusev and Nakamura. This would lead to an impromptu tag team match, but in terms of just Styles vs. Nakamura, it was solid as always.
Between the actual match taking place and Rusev on commentary, this was a very enjoyable segment from last night’s show.
Final Grade: B+
Photo by WWE’s Twitter
3. Rusev And Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles And Jeff Hardy
The blue brand will see two big singles title matches take place at Extreme Rules with the WWE Championship and the United States Championship on the line. But thanks to the turn of events that took place last night, those two situations would butt heads.
WWE Champion AJ Styles took on Shinsuke Nakamura in one-on-one action, but the match never got a clean finish thanks to Rusev and Aiden English. This led to U.S. Champion Jeff Hardy joining the fold to try and help Styles out. GM Paige had seen enough and she pitted Styles and Hardy against Rusev and Nakamura in tag team action immediately.
The match got far less time than Styles vs. Nakamura got just minutes before, but it did what it needed to do in the long run. Things began to break down towards the end, but The Bulgarian Brute managed to make the most out of it and after a huge kick to Hardy, Rusev got the win for his team to gain key momentum before his WWE Championship opportunity on Sunday.
Both Styles vs. Rusev and Hardy vs. Nakamura should be great matches at Extreme Rules, but last night definitely helped out both feuds. Will we see a changing of the guard on Sunday? Can Nakamura capture his first main roster championship and can Rusev capture his first main roster world title? If last night means anything, both could happen.
Seeing two worlds collide, so to speak, was a nice change of pace last night when the WWE Championship picture met the U.S. Championship picture in a pretty good tag team match.
Final Grade: B
Photo by WWE’s Twitter
2. Andrade Cien Almas vs. Sin Cara
One of the most anticipated NXT call-ups in recent memory has been Andrade Cien Almas along with his manager Zelina Vega. The two ran roughshod on NXT for a long time and had tremendous success, but Almas was looking to make his presence felt in the big leagues.
It took a while, but he finally had his first one-on-one match on SmackDown last night when he battled former friend Sin Cara. These two have been entangled in a feud over the past few weeks that saw Almas disrespect his former friend on more than one occasion. Fans were wondering when these two would ever square off, but it finally happened last night.
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Despite not getting a lot of time, this match did much more than what it should have done given the time constraint. These two pulled out all the stops and put on an incredible show of athleticism. The moves pulled out in this match were unlike anything Raw or SmackDown has seen in a long time and would have fit perfectly into any cruiserweight style of division in history.
But in the end, Almas was able to take care of Sin Cara and he picked up the win. This match was very impressive despite only getting an otherwise minuscule amount of time to shine, but it shined and then some. Hopefully this leads to more chances to leave an impact and this feud definitely warrants more attention moving forward.
Almas is here to make a name for himself and in his first match on Tuesday nights, he did just that in a match that exceeded expectations.
Final Grade: B+
Photo by WWE.com
1. Team Hell No And The New Day vs. The Bludgeon Brothers And SAnitY
A trend that began last night was impromptu tag team matches taking place after chaotic endings to other segments. That trend got started after Miz TV opened up the show with special guests Daniel Bryan and Kane, Team Hell No.
The Miz tried getting under Bryan and Kane’s skin and it eventually worked, only that would cost Team Hell No as both The Bludgeon Brothers and SAnitY came out along with some help from The New Day. This led to a 10-man tag team match in the main event last night that saw Team Hell No and The New Day team up to battle The Bludgeon Brothers and SAnitY just days before all four teams will battle at Extreme Rules.
With the amount of talent in the ring and tremendous tag team talent at that, this was bound to be a memorable showdown. That rang true and all four teams had impressive showings that left a mark. The heelish teams managed to keep things in check for a while, but the babyface teams turned the tide and chaos ensued. The New Day and Kane helped take care of SAnitY and The Bludgeon Brothers while Bryan would finish off SAnitY’s leader Eric Young.
The Yes Lock spelled doom for Young and he tapped out to The Yes Man, securing the win for Team Hell No and The New Day. It was a wild and fun match, to say the least, and the post-match moment was even more entertaining when Bryan tried to ignite flames in the vintage Kane way. And wouldn’t you know, he managed to pull it off while Kane stood shocked. This was a great night for all teams involved heading into Extreme Rules.
Two separate tag team matches could both steal the show on Sunday, but last night’s coincided teaming up paid dividends for both feuds.
Final Grade: A-
Next: WWE SmackDown Results, July 10
How would you grade this week’s episode of WWE SmackDown?